Legacy dvd review

[ohbaby]

WELL IT HAS BEEN SEVERAL YEARS SINCE DCI HAS RELEASED THE LEGACY DVD AND FOR XMAS I RECIEVED 85 AND 86 TO COMPLETE MY COLLECTION UP THROUGH THIS YEAR. I LOVE THEM, BUT HAVE A FEW THOUGHTS THAT I AM SURE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED BEFORE, BUT OH WELL.

FIRST, WHY DID THEY NOT PRODUCE THEM IN BROADCAST ORDER OR PROGRESSIVE PLACEMENT?

1-12 IS NOT AS EASY TO WATCH VS 12-1. IT IS NICE TO SEE PLACEMENT PROGRESSION, NOT NECESSARILY QUALITY PROGRESSION. WE DID NOT NEED THE "IN BETWEEN VIGNETTES", BUT I LIKE TO WATCH THEM AS IF I WAS THERE AGAIN. YOU WOULD NOT WATCH A TAPED FOOTBALL GAME QTRS 4-1.

SECONDLY, TOM YOU CUT THE TAIL END OF PERFORMANCES OFF WAY TOO QUICKLY. IF SPACE IS THE ISSUE THAN IT SHOULD BE 6 ON ONE DISC, 6 ON ANOTHER. FOR $39, THAT WOULD STILL COVER TWO DVDS AND ALLOW DCI TO MAKE A NICE PROFIT. IT IS ANNOYING TO HEAR THE END OF STAR 90, THEN NOT BE ABLE TO SEE THAT MUCH OF THE FANS OR EVEN MEMBERS REACTION.

NOW THE ONE THAT WAS NEEDED THE MOST. HIGH CAMERA. I KNOW IT DOES EXIST. STAR PUT THE 91 HIGH ON THEIR DVD. I KNOW DCI DID NOT DESTROY THESE TAPES. JUST CURIOUS WHY IT WAS NOT ADDED IN. I KNOW COST, BUT TO ME ONCE AGAIN THESE MOST LIKELY WILL NOT BE RELEASED AGAIN WITH THIS FEATURE. OUR ONLY HOPE IS IF THEY RELEASE QTRS. AND SEMIS THAT THESE FEATURES WILL BE CORRECTED.

I DO NOT WANT TO HARP, I JUST THINK THAT FOR THE PRICE WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXPRESS CONCERNS. AN OPINION IS MEANT TO HELP NOT HURT, BUT JUST MY 2 CENTS. ANY OPINIONS?

[bawker]

I think the multiple camera angles are an issue of space on the DVD.

Despite the fact that some of DCI's products seems a touch overpriced, I do have to say that getting past years of Finals for 39 bucks is a great deal. The vignettes are still there from the PBS broadcast, and the "year in review" with Rondo helps to frame the years nicely. :)

I only wish that 13-21 could get the same treatment eventually; or at the very least, an online fan vote could take place to make a "Best of 13-21" DVD featuring some of the great corps that almost made the cut...along with a "Best of II/III" DVD.

Or, perhaps a new historical DVD series from all the corps from the past 34 years, something like: "The All-Girl Circuit", "A / A-60 Masterful Performances", a second "Brass Roots" volume, and so on.

[PaNors77]

I would appreciate(and pay for) DCI putting together a series on prelims too. Some of us who were dissapointed in not making finals would still like to see ourselves and our show,no? For me starting with 76-78 Kingsmen.

Philbert

(fall)77-78 Kingsmen

[Michael Boo]

...and the "year in review" with Rondo helps to frame the years nicely. :)...

Thank you. It was fun to research and write those news facts.

Mike

Edited January 6, 2006 by Michael Boo

[Jd83]

The news stuff is pretty cool. It gives us a perspective of the times. However, the only issue I have is with a part of the '81 year in review. When Reliable Rondo did his "Hail Spartacus" salute, he did it wrong. The hand is supposed to be closed in a fist, not open, and you bring your fist to your heart before extending your arm. You can see that very salute as part of today's Regiment drum major salutes.

A positive issue I want to bring up with the 1982 Legacy dvd is the great job Tom did. The younger set may not be aware that during the original TV broadcast, Reliable Rondo and Rob McConnell were giving commentary during the performances. For our performance, much of that commentary was wrong. They needed a libretto and it appears they got one about halfway through. Thankfully, none of the commentary is present on the 1982 Legacy dvd. Tom did a masterful job. Olympic Stadium simply stank as a venue and Tom got it right with what he had. What happened with beginning of the Bridgemen's show was sad, but Tom did what he could. I just wish he could have added our marching warmup to it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember seeing any TV cameras during Prelims performances in my era. Hence, I doubt that there will be any videos of those performances.

A nice touch to some of the Legacy dvds is the addition of some of the segments run during the original broadcasts, such as the "On the Road Again" segments, et al. That was cool.

Edited January 6, 2006 by Jd83

[mobrien]

I DO NOT WANT TO HARP, I JUST THINK THAT FOR THE PRICE WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXPRESS CONCERNS. AN OPINION IS MEANT TO HELP NOT HURT, BUT JUST MY 2 CENTS. ANY OPINIONS?

Why are you shouting?... (turn off the caps key).

The price is $39 for the Legacy DVD's, vs $99 for the current years' DVD's with the additional features. For that, the customer gets cleaned up video and remastered sound, as opposed to the relatively poor quality of the older VHS copies of those years, which cost twice as much and used the original broadcast monophonic sound.

Some of the features you're thinking about might be available for some years, and not for others, and in any case would have required the use of multiple disks for each year, which would necessarily drive up the cost to the point where the Legacy disks would be less of an impulse buy then they are now. This series has been an unmitigated success for DCI, both in terms of serving the fan base and in bringing in additional revenue, which would indicate that they pretty much did it up right in the first place.

Some corps do offer their own in-house DVD's that include additional features not available on the Legacy DVD's (like designer commentary, etc). Might be worth checking the individual corps' sites if there's a particular show you're looking for in expanded format.

[byline]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember seeing any TV cameras during Prelims performances in my era. Hence, I doubt that there will be any videos of those performances.

I know for a fact that at least as early as 1980, there were high-cam videos made of prelims, because a band director I worked for years ago had those tapes. I don't know when DCI started doing that, but there were doing it at least in 1980. You wouldn't have seen the cameras on the field because it looks like they were up top, on the pressbox.

[bradrick]

This series has been an unmitigated success for DCI, both in terms of serving the fan base and in bringing in additional revenue, which would indicate that they pretty much did it up right in the first place.

Sorry. But there's no alternative for someone who wants to see most of these shows on DVD. The fact that people are purchasing the only option available in an activity that has a ridiculously fanatical following like Drum Corps hardly proves that the DVDs were done "right in the first place".

In my case, I wanted to see 87 Sky Ryders (my rookie year). Purchasing the Legacy DVD was the only way I could do that. It's not available anywhere else in any other form. That doesn't prove anything about the production quality of that DVD.

If these DVDs have in fact been an unmitigated success for DCI, it's because people were practically frothing at the mouth to see some of these shows in any form, no matter what they might think of the production value after DCI already has their money.

And pertaining to the lack of High Cam on the Legacy DVDs:

I too think it's a crying shame that we can't choose that angle. And I would have paid extra for the privilege. Drum Corps shows are designed to be viewed from a fixed point in the stands. So why not make a viewing experience available that is EXACTLY what the designers were going for?

The shots of 87 Sky Ryders focused on the colorguard the entire time. Very little of Marc Sylvester's drill is shown. You can actually here the audience reacting to drill that is not shown. I understand why this happened, because our guard was the focus of the entire show, pretty much. But the drill should have been available on the DVD if a tape of it exists somewhere.

I purchased high cam angle VHS tapes for individual corps finals performances in 88, 89 and 90. So I know those at least did exist at one time. And there's no High Cam option on those years either.

[sday88]

Sorry. But there's no alternative for someone who wants to see most of these shows on DVD. The fact that people are purchasing the only option available in an activity that has a ridiculously fanatical following like Drum Corps hardly proves that the DVDs were done "right in the first place".

In my case, I wanted to see 87 Sky Ryders (my rookie year). Purchasing the Legacy DVD was the only way I could do that. It's not available anywhere else in any other form. That doesn't prove anything about the production quality of that DVD.

If these DVDs have in fact been an unmitigated success for DCI, it's because people were practically frothing at the mouth to see some of these shows in any form, no matter what they might think of the production value after DCI already has their money.

And pertaining to the lack of High Cam on the Legacy DVDs:

I too think it's a crying shame that we can't choose that angle. And I would have paid extra for the privilege. Drum Corps shows are designed to be viewed from a fixed point in the stands. So why not make a viewing experience available that is EXACTLY what the designers were going for?

The shots of 87 Sky Ryders focused on the colorguard the entire time. Very little of Marc Sylvester's drill is shown. You can actually here the audience reacting to drill that is not shown. I understand why this happened, because our guard was the focus of the entire show, pretty much. But the drill should have been available on the DVD if a tape of it exists somewhere.

I purchased high cam angle VHS tapes for individual corps finals performances in 88, 89 and 90. So I know those at least did exist at one time. And there's no High Cam option on those years either.

Brad,

I still have my original copies of the '87 VHS tapes. I don't know if there is anything different about them, but if you'd like a copy, I could do that.

[byline]

The shots of 87 Sky Ryders focused on the colorguard the entire time. Very little of Marc Sylvester's drill is shown. You can actually here the audience reacting to drill that is not shown. I understand why this happened, because our guard was the focus of the entire show, pretty much. But the drill should have been available on the DVD if a tape of it exists somewhere.

This bugs me about so many shows, as shown on the telecast. I remember so clearly that in '87, the telecast focused on close-ups of all the "magic" in Santa Clara's show. Up close, the costumes and props looked cheap. Meanwhile, we were missing all this incredible stuff that was going on in the drill. High-cam versions of these shows were available at the time, because that same band director I worked for also had high-cam semi-finals videotapes of at least Santa Clara and Garfield Cadets (and probably more corps). What a difference it makes to watch Santa Clara's show from that high angle; it's still one of the most gorgeous, and awe-inpiring, shows I've ever witnessed. And Garfield's is a joy to watch from that angle, too. Those tapes should still be stored in a vault somewhere, and hopefully DCI will make them available on DVD sometime in the future.

Edited January 6, 2006 by byline